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ABSTRACT. The relationship between national identity and how people perceive and
consume media is a central but largely untested assumption of studies of nationalism.
Using a previously developed classication of identity among English migrants to
Scotland, this paper explores associations between how people use the media and how
they make sense of their national identity. Compared with Scottish nationals, who tend
to adopt a more taken-for-granted and uncontentious view of the media, except when
they feel that the media presented to them challenge their sense of identity, English
migrants nd that the agendas of the media in Scotland differ from those they are used to
south of the border. Specically, how they view the media tends to vary according to
whether they view themselves as English, British or as becoming Scottish.
Introduction
The relationship between national identity and how people perceive and
consume print and broadcast media is one of the central but largely untested
assumptions of studies of nationalism. Newspapers have long been seen as
binding people into national political and cultural agendas, thereby helping
to create and sustain a strong sense of national identity. Renans celebrated
denition of France as un ensemble didees (in Bhabha 1990: 12) depended on
This paper is the product of a collegiate form of writing in which the eldwork, the analysis and
the drafts of the paper have been discussed by the research team throughout. The rst-named
author has been responsible for initially drafting the paper and seeing it into print. The others are
in random order. We are indebted to Susan Condor, John MacInnes, Pille Petersoo and Michael
Rosie for extensive comments on earlier drafts helping to clarify our thoughts and the argument,
as well as the anonymous referees for the journal. We remain solely responsible for the
interpretation of these data and any errors remaining are our own.
474
Schlesingers interest in these matters derives from the twin pressures on the
nation-state from above the process of Europeanisation and from below
pressure from sub-state stateless nations such as Scotland and Catalonia,
territories with sufciently distinctive public spheres, to challenge the communicative supremacy of existing states. In short, three frequently competing
levels of communicative space have emerged: the supra-national (e.g. EU), the
state-national (e.g. UK) and the sub-state national (e.g. Scotland). We focus
here on the third of these.
Schlesingers critique of the supposed relationship between media and
national identity in the UK is part of a broader assessment of the relationship
between nation and communicative space (Schlesinger 2000). He comments:
Consciously or unconsciously social communication thinking is an expression of the cultural geography of the nation-state in a world of sovereign
states (2000: 99). He traces much of this association back to Karl Deutschs
book Nationalism and Social Communication (1953), in which nationality
becomes a function of communicative competence and belonging, in large
measure both mutually reinforcing. Although Gellners classic study Nations
and Nationalism (1983) did not forefront the role of the media as both
expression and cause of national identication, Schlesinger sees his modernist account of the relationship between industrialisation and nationalism as
adopting a quintessentially Deutschian view of social communication. He
observes: Media are boundary markers, intimately related to the political
roof that caps a culture and makes it into a nation-state. It is their function
in sustaining a political community that is of prime interest for Gellner, and it
is therefore not a problem to think of them as univocal (2000: 104).
This internalist account of media-national identity relations runs through
the work not only of Deutsch and Gellner, but also, in Schlesingers view, of
Benedict Anderson (1983) and Michael Billig (1995). While Anderson was
mainly interested in the written press, he shares Deutschs view that the social
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Such assumptions are also found in the early theorising of Jurgen Habermas
on communicative space (1989), which remained within an internalist
account. In his later thinking (1994), the public sphere is much more
unbounded, and less tied to the national frame.
The Scottish case
Scotland provides an interesting test-case for assumptions about the relationships between identity and media consumption, because a vibrant and
distinctive Scottish press and broadcasting exists alongside the media based
in London and dominant in the UK as a whole. The press is highly
competitive, and changes in printing technology have opened up opportunities for Fleet Street newspapers to put a kilt on their Scottish editions. Some,
like The Guardian and The Independent, carry minimal Scottish content, while
others such as The Sun, Daily Mail and Daily Express put Scottish in their
titles and make substantial editorial changes accordingly (Rosie et al. 2004).
Almost fteen years ago, with a Scottish focus, Schlesinger (1991: 307) called
for a reassessment of the relationship between media and collective identities,
arguing that the linkages had yet to be demonstrated. A decade later Law (2001)
again raised the issue. Yet there is still relatively little systematic research into this
relationship. In Scotland, the work of Rosie et al. (2004) and Petersoo (forthcoming) on newspaper production and content, together with the historical
analysis of Connell (2003), and the research by Higgins (2004) on locational
tokens and news discourse in Scottish papers has begun to rectify this.
One cannot assume that the media produced in Britain impact in the same
way on how people north and south of the border construe their territorial
identities. Colleagues involved in the Leverhulme programme of research1 not
only question the strength of straightforward relationships between media
and national identity, but Rosie et al. have persuasively attacked the concept
of a British national press and thus a unied British communicative space.
They observe:
The distribution of titles and their spatial editions and the different patterns of ags2
found in them make the category of British press of limited analytical or theoretical
use. Readers in England and Scotland buy papers with substantially different patterns
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Methodology
Our data comes from the Scottish part of a qualitative study in both England
and Scotland based on repeated interviews with panels of respondents. The
panel composition, more common in quantitative studies, has been critical. In
Scotland we recruited Scottish nationals, people born and still living in
Scotland, as well as English migrants, people born in England but now living
in Scotland, with a length of residence ranging between one and sixty years.
These are operational, not theoretical, denitions that we have used for many
years, albeit the focus on birth as a key criterion also has the merit of being the
one which most people take for granted as dening nationality (McCrone
2001:173). The interview extracts used here come primarily from the rst wave
of interviews in 2001, shortly after the establishment of the Scottish Parliament,3 when we interviewed seventy-two migrants and sixty nationals, recruited
in two distinctive contexts the large urban centre of Glasgow, and in and
around a small town in rural Perthshire. The second round of interviews was
carried out in 2002/03 and a shortened third round was conducted in 2004. The
majority of nationals and a minority of migrants were chosen at random from
the Electoral Register. Most migrants came via associational and occupational
groups, advertising in the local media and from those already interviewed.
The topic-driven, conversational interviews lasted, on average, 1.5 hours;
and were tape-recorded, transcribed and entered into Hypersoft a computer
package that aids qualitative analysis. We followed a procedure of repeated
reading, and tagging extracts that highlighted a particular issue. The extracts
have been examined to agree on their interpretation and so as not to do the
respondent an injustice. The analysis was strengthened by systematically
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477
478
479
480
Prioritise
Scottish
Equally
Scottish/British
Prioritise
British
Other/
None/DK
3
30
44
24
2462
8
30
34
28
866
19
30
21
30
239
32
28
16
25
104
The Scottish versions of the Fleet Street tabloids are read by thirty per cent
of each identity category, and between twenty-four and thirty per cent read the
Scottish broadsheets. Readership of the Fleet Street broadsheets increases as
one moves across the identity categories towards those prioritising their British
identity, with the reverse pattern among those reading the Record/Mirror. Our
data comes from neither a random sample nor a survey, but from a crude count
that forms an interesting starting point. Scottish nationals in our sample fall into
three identity groupings. Of the Scottish, not British (fteen in all), ve read no
newspaper, and the remainder all read some Scottish press (100 per cent).12
Among the more Scottish than British (twenty-ve), one-third read none, and
of the remainder, twelve (seventy per cent) read some Scottish press. Finally, of
the sixteen equally Scottish and British, or More British than Scottish one
reads none, and nine (sixty per cent) read some Scottish press. Although the
numbers are small the percentage trend is in the direction expected (100; 70; 60).
This is the beginning of our story, not its end.
Scottish nationals
Most Scottish nationals read the Scottish press. They do so in a matter-of-fact
way, reecting Bourdieus habitus, the long-lasting dispositions of the mind
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481
and body which naturalise peoples understanding of their social world (see
McCrone 2005). They choose what they listen to, read,13 and watch for
reasons unconnected to their sense of Scottishness but based on habit, such as
preferring local news14 and sports coverage.
Despite this, Scottish nationals do take exception when something in the
media challenges their sense of identity. Here are two contrasting examples.
The rst respondent accuses the UK media of being anglocentric, contrasting
the relatively low-key coverage of ooding in Edinburgh by the news and
current affairs programme Scotland Today, with the UK-wide coverage of a
similar occurrence in England by the London-based English media:
GN01:15 Take the ooding in the south, for instance. Edinburghs recent ood
situation merited about four column inches and half a breath and half a beat on
Scotland Today . . . It happens in England for the rst time, and it consumes the
media. Now that, in itself, thats infuriating. Thats probably too strong a word but
that is typical of how, because its us, You dont matter because you are who you are
and to be honest with you, we dont care. But we want everyone to care about this. We
think this is national news and you must care and we dont care if you dont care or
not. It will dominate your newspapers and it will dominate your airspace. So you will
all listen.
(Computer Company Manager, aged 46)
The second respondent is a Scottish national who buys The Times and watches
the TV news he feels is most likely to give him the UK perspective. He is
increasingly frustrated by what he sees as the scotticising of UK news in the
Scottish edition of his English-based paper and in the Scottish opt-out
element from his UK television news:
GN16: I actually object to getting the Scottish editions because, all these papers now
come out with Scottish editions as if Scots now somehow are not interested in whats
happening in the whole country as a whole and they give you a bit of it. I object to not
reading the same paper in Glasgow as a guy in London, I want to read the same paper
. . . When youre watching Newsnight16 and suddenly it clips over to bloody Scotland
and you get some third-rate interviewer and it takes up half the bloody programme and
youre watching and you say I dont want to see this. I want to see a national
programme, which is dealing with national issues with guys that are, in spite of
everything, guys who are right on the ball, pressing national gures. (Procurement
Worker, Utilities Company, aged 47)
Like the rst respondent, his identity claims are in line with his media views:
GN16: I think people that put Scottish as a nationality, they tend to be, mmh, we are
British. Thats how were categorised, whether we like it or not . . . The fact is if you
handed me a bit of paper and said write down your nationality, its British. If I put
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482
Scottish, its the same as somebody down in Cornwall writing Cornish. Its not on,
really, youre British and thats it.
Scottish nationals who give more salience to being British tend to invest it
with more positive and overtly political and pro-British Union meaning. For
example:
On identity:
I: On the issue of whether or not to have a Scottish Parliament in Scotland and I
wondered, at the time of the issue, how you thought of the idea?
PN50: We had very strong views on it. We were very anti-it.
I: Right.
PN50: I think its our mixed background again. We feel British, dont we? We feel, well
me more than you (talking to husband - H) . . . And I feel its a step backwards, cutting
Scotland off.
(Retired Primary School Teacher, aged 56. Husband, Retired Policeman, Aged 55)
On the media:
H: Like with our present situation now, this terrorist thing, now that, to me, we are
British and we are going to stand with whoever, against that kind of thing.
PN50: We heard, on the Scottish News, last night, them saying their opinion of Blair,
his talk yesterday and how it was going to affect us in Scotland and I said to H
(husband) What are they talking about? Were all the same. I just feel sometimes we
cut ourselves off.
Such individuals, however, are a small minority among our Scottish national
respondents, who in general tend to adopt a taken-for-granted, uncontentious
view of the newspapers they read, or the TV news they watch. As our previous
work has shown, their national identity is secure and seldom seriously
questioned, and is not continually renegotiated or called into account and
this is reected in their consumption of and attitudes to the media.
English migrants
Those who come to live in Scotland nd an environment that is different
in many ways from England. While this should not be exaggerated,
they sometimes encounter not outright hostility but a degree of anti-Englishness and opposition to what are seen as English values. This is a
complex area reecting a general attitude to England and the English, often
manifested in joking relationships, but not antagonism to individual English
people.17 Faced with (re)negotiating who they are, English migrants comment
that the agenda of the media in Scotland often differs from that they are used
to in England. We now examine how they come to terms with this.
The following excerpts illustrate four themes that regularly arose in our
English migrants accounts of the Scottish-based media.
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This respondent is irritated by what she sees as trivial events receiving undue
prominence in Scotland, something mentioned by more than twice as many
English migrants as Scottish nationals.
(iv) Anglocentrism in the English press
GM21: With English newspapers they tend to have a bit of a blind spot about some
things and make generalisations about the UK when theyre just really talking about
England . . . . I listen to Radio 419 and again, thats Anglo-centric reporting. (8 years at
19, Lawyer)
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Her changing sense of identity is linked to her perception of the media in the
two countries:
GM41: I think in my heart of hearts I consider my home somewhere in England, not
somewhere in Scotland. I cant be specic but its just certain things like I like the fact
that all the papers dont say Scottish version of the Times and stuff. Now which is
really bizarre but I think Im only reacting like that because Ive spent so long with
people ramming down your throat oh this is the Scottish version of this.
485
Being British
Some English migrants reassess their perceptions of being British, moving
towards a more inclusive sense of Britishness that incorporates Scotland and
England. For example:
PM52: I think maybe even more so now were living in Scotland, being British is more
inclusive than being English for me. Its easier for me to be British than English
because it summarises the fact that Ive, Im a part of both countries. I couldnt
describe myself as Scottish but obviously Scotland is now important to me. So being
British encapsulates both of those. (7 years at 32, Housewife)
Having moved from London to rural Scotland she now sees a London-based
national paper as both anglo-centric and London-centric. Her new Scottish
friends suggest that if she wants a different point of view she should read a
Scottish newspaper. In her second interview in 2003 she said:
PM52: I get The Times every day but it does have what it calls the Scottish pages, which
are three pages of Scottish news and I keep saying we should buy a Scottish newspaper.
My newsagent keeps saying weve been here long enough now to buy a Scottish
newspaper because she obviously doesnt consider . . . I always assume that the paper is
the same everywhere so I sometimes say to my Dad oh, did you see that thing in the
paper? He says well, it wasnt in my paper. I say it was on page 3. He says well, we
dont get all that Scottish rubbish in our newspapers. (laughs) (9 years at 32)
Two years on, she says that she should buy a Scottish newspaper and regards
the Scottish element as standard. Her fathers dismissal of Scottish affairs
not found within his English-based edition of The Times amuses her but she
appears to rejects his idea of Scottish affairs as rubbish.
English migrants who attempt to combine elements of Englishness and
Scottishness with being British struggle to nd a single newspaper that ts this
perspective, although they could read two newspapers one produced in
Scotland and one in England. Consider three interview excerpts from another
respondent: the rst about his national identity, and the other two about his
problems nding a newspaper that ts well with it. One option (The Guardian)
fails to cover enough Scottish news. His son, who was born in Scotland, wants
him to buy a Scottish newspaper (The Scotsman) but, unusually, he sees it as
carrying too much English news.
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PM43: Well. As I say, I dont look on myself as English, as I perhaps did, thirty, forty
years ago. Em, you know if somebody asks me, you know having lived up in Scotland,
which to me is quite different from England, em and Im happy up here so I now just
look on myself as British, if somebody asks me. British, I nd that a bit better than
saying Im English.
I: Do you know why that is?
PM43: I suppose because Im trying to include England and Scotland. (36 years at 37,
Retired Headmaster)
PM43: My difculty is I wish Scotland had a decent newspaper. I quite liked The
Scotsman . . . I quite liked it for about two or three years, but now, I dont like it very
much. Theres so much English news in it. Id much rather they had really well written
Scottish stuff.
PM43: The trouble with The Guardian is theres hardly ever anything about Scotland,
very little actually. You really do need to get another Scottish paper. I dont get one
but really I ought to. Im always being nagged at by one of my boys to get The
Scotsman.
Becoming Scottish
The key identity markers for migrants claims to becoming Scottish are
demonstrable forms of commitment and contribution to the country (Kiely et
al. 2005b). English migrants making such claims were almost all lengthy
residents, committed to living in Scotland, who saw themselves as making
positive contributions to Scottish society. We now examine the identity
accounts of some Belonging Scots and their accounts of how they (re)positioned themselves over time relative to the media.
GM14: Ive been in Scotland longer than Ive been in England so this is home and its
where I spent all my adult life so I kind of identify myself as Scottish but I know that I
have no right in the eyes of Scottish people to identify myself as Scottish . . . a large
proportion of me thinks Im Scottish or relates, yeah, I can never call myself Scottish
because Im not Scottish but I feel Scottish. If that makes sense.
I: You say that you could never claim to be Scottish?
GM14: Uhuh.
I: Even though you yourself feel that sense of identication?
GM14: Yes, because other people in Scotland wouldnt accept me as being Scottish. I
would be making almost a false claim in the eyes of other Scottish people . . .
To all intents and purposes I am Scottish and I would say that to people. I feel
Scottish, you know which is very different from saying I am Scottish. To say I am
Scottish, I probably wouldnt say that but I am to all intents and purposes Scottish.
Theres a difference between those two statements and I would be wary of the I am
Scottish and I think thats because it lays myself open to being told Im not. I dont
want to be told Im not and therefore I dont. (18 years at 28, Local Council
Administrator)
His powerful identication with Scotland and feeling Scottish stops short of a
public claim because he appreciates that others may challenge it. Alongside a
changing sense of national identity has come a growing interest in the Scottish
news media:
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GM14: Im listening more to Radio Scotland. Most of my news sources come from
Radio Scotland and Guardian and Herald. Big issues, Im conscious that I switch much
more and listen to Radio Scotland a lot more and buying The Sunday Herald. Those
two are two clear decisions that happened and changes. Im listening to Radio
Scotland because of the Parliament really and its more likely to carry on.
Here are two examples of respondents who claim to have shifted even further:
On identity:
PM28: I dont think of myself as English at all. Really, I feel, as much as anything,
Scottish, if you want to . . . because Ive been here so long now, 35 years. My
wifes been here longer than she lived in England. Our home is here now. Were not
moving from here. Ill die here and, as I say, three of my children are living here
and I identify with it. The charities I contribute to, the charitable things I try to
do, are for Scotland. Scotlands given me a lot and I owe something. (33 years at 38,
Chemist)
On the media:
PM28: We read The Scotsman from time to time. We dont bother to get the English
newspapers.
I: Right. Do you know why The Scotsman appeals to you more?
PM28: I suppose because it is more of a . . . I havent really done a comparison, quite
honestly but of the papers available in Scotland, I guess it comes down to The
Scotsman or the Glasgow Herald, doesnt it? Although there are other local papers and
of the national papers, I guess its almost a toss-up really and The Scotsman, I suppose
its because its more local.
On identity:
PM41: Id probably say I was Scottish because Ive lived here mostly . . . I have a
stronger sense of being Scottish but then thats a culture thing. Its more the things you
do, the people you see, the places youre used to going to, to the kind of lifestyle we
lead. I think the Scottish way of life is slightly different to the English way of life. Its
much faster down south unless youre in a really rural area, I would say. I nd we have
a lot more personal space in Scotland. (18 years at 17, Unemployed)
On the media:
PM41: I quite like The Scotsman on Saturday.
I: Do you know what it is about The Scotsman that appeals to you?
PM41: I think because its Scottish based. I feel that it pertains more to us than . . . if
you read the English Daily Express, theres hardly any local news. Whereas if you read
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the Scottish Daily Express and The Scotsman, its aimed at us and its like even just
little anecdotal stories and things, theyre Scottish.
Both these English migrants have not only come to claim that they are
Scottish but that they also favour Scottish newspapers and reject what they
now regard as an English national frame of reference within English-based
papers.
While the three groups being English, being British, and becoming
Scottish do lie on a continuum of increasing Scottishness, they should not
be taken to form a natural progression that migrants follow. Over time, some
migrants do indeed move from one identity to another, but they are more akin
to ideal types than intrinsically stable positions.
Conclusion
We have illustrated how groups having different identity strategies relate to
the media in different ways. For Scottish nationals, who mainly read the
Scottish press, there is more of a taken-for-granted, non-contentious aspect to
the media. What they read, watch and listen to is mainly the result of habit,
often focusing on local matters. Yet their preference for the Scottish press
suggests that a sense of Scottishness is important. Identity and media
consumption become contentious when something in the media challenges
their sense of identity.
It is among English migrants, however, that national identity relates more
directly to perceptions and understandings of the media. They come to
Scotland and encounter newspapers and television programmes produced
entirely in Scotland, as well as Scottish variations on the media with which
they are familiar in England. Furthermore, they nd themselves in an
environment where they have to (re)negotiate who they are, and re-assess
how their sense of national identity relates to the stance taken by the Scottish
media on Scottish, British and English national identity. Those in Scotland
who describe themselves as English often complain about a Scottish national
frame of reference in the Scottish media. Other migrants try to claim a more
inclusive sense of being British but, reinforcing Rosie et al.s (2004) point that
the existence of a British national press is an assumption rather than a reality,
they struggle to nd media compatible with being British in Scotland. Finally,
among those who make claims to being Scottish, there is a shift over time in
media consumption in favour of a Scottish perspective.
What of the wider implications of this for the relationship between national
identity and the media? The research took place in the context of the creation
of the Scottish parliament in 1999. This law-making parliament has responsibility for domestic affairs, notably health, education, law and order, and
many welfare services.21 The media provided an important framing function
for the whole project, and our interviews explored how respondents related
their senses of territorial identity to these signicant political changes. Rosie
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490
Luis Moreno adapted it from an original idea by Juan Linz, and applied it to Scotland in 1986.
The version used here is for Scottish respondents. For English respondents, the response options
are altered accordingly.
5 No Scottish nationals in our sample chose British, not Scottish.
6 Conversations during interviews around identity and the media often occurred spontaneously,
particularly with English migrants. In Round 1, respondents were asked whether they followed
the Scottish Parliament in the media. We asked this again in Round 2, as well as about newspapers
they read, television programmes they watched, changes over time, and whether they were
conscious of differences in reporting in the media north and south of the border.
7 For our focus on qualitative data on national identity over the last 10 years, see Bechhofer et
al. 1999; Kiely et al. 2000; Kiely et al. 2001.
8 See Miller (1995: 32) on Britishness:
How do I know what it means to be British, what the British nation is supposed to be like? I nd
out from newspaper editorials, or history books, or lms, or songs and I take it for granted that
what I am ingesting is also being ingested by millions of other Britons whom I will never meet. So
nations cannot exists unless there are available the means of communication to make such
collective imagining feasible.
9 In this table, Prioritise Scottish means Scottish not British and more Scottish than British
(Moreno responses), and Prioritise British British not Scottish and more British than
Scottish. Equal identity corresponds to Equally Scottish and British. The data refer only to
those who read a newspaper regularly.
10 We are grateful to Michael Rosie for supplying us with this table. For Social Attitudes surveys,
see http://www.natcen.ac.uk/natcen/pages/or_socialattitudes.htm
11 These are the Scottish editions of the Daily Express, the Daily Mail, the Daily Star and the Sun.
12 Scottish press here excludes the Scottish versions of the Fleet Street tabloids.
13 There are many straightforward reasons for reading newspapers. For example:
I: Do you tend to buy a particular newspaper every day or not really?
PN39: No, sometimes I buy the Glasgow Herald. I buy The Telegraph on a Thursday because its
good jobs in it. Its as simple as that. But normally, if I buy a newspaper, its the Glasgow Herald.
I: Do you know why that appeals to you?
PN39: I like the crossword (Sales Representative, aged 54)
(For an explanation of the notation PN, see note 16)
14 The Scottish print media is heavily regionalized. The Scotsman and The Herald claim
national (i.e. Scottish) status, but have regional readership, the former in east Scotland, and
the latter in the west (Rosie et al. 2004).Local in these terms often alludes to these regions within
Scotland.
15 In the following transcript excerpts G indicates a Glasgow and P a rural Perthshire
respondent whilst M indicates a Migrant and N a National. The following number identies a
specic respondent. I is the interviewer.
16 News and current affairs programme produced in London and broadcast throughout Britain
on the BBC. In Scotland, it switches over to Newsnight Scotland after thirty of what is a ftyminute programme in the rest of the UK.
17 See for instance Watson (2003) and McIntosh et al. (2004).
18 The bracketed details following the interview excerpts for Migrants give length of residence in
Scotland, the age at which they came, and occupation at time of interview.
19 One of the several BBC channels produced in London and broadcast throughout Britain.
r The authors 2006. Journal compilation r ASEN 2006
491
20 This respondent is a TV Producer in the area of Childrens Entertainment but her comments
here relate to newspapers.
21 After a long political campaign seventy-four per cent of people in Scotland voted in 1997 for
the restoration of a Scottish Parliament that met for the rst time in 1999. Some powers, such as
foreign affairs/defence, and macro-economic policy remain reserved to the Westminster
Parliament. For details of the responsibilities of the Scottish parliament at Holyrood vis-a`-vis
Westminster, see http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/corporate/powers/index.htm
22 For example,
GN34: There is a different emphasis these days, Reporting Scotland will report on whats going
on in the Scottish parliament whereas the main news doesnt. It just tells you whats going on in
Westminster. There is a line these days. I would rather watch the main news than watch the
Scottish news. To nd out whats going on. A lot of the Scottish things are . . . a lot is trivia, to me
anyway, things that weve already heard about or you know its happening or . . . they repeat
themselves quite a lot as well, I think. But I think you need to watch the main news if youre
wanting to know whats going on with Mr. Bush or things like that that have serious effects on our
lives. (Tiler, aged 66)
23 Billig distinguishes two meanings of representation: the rst means standing for or
speaking for; the second, is depiction, that is, representing a scene. Thus, to claim to speak
for the people, a politician has to speak to them (Billig 1995: 98).
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